Gender pay gap rises in Whitehall's top ranks

The gender pay gap between men and women in senior positions in many leading Whitehall departments is widening, according to the first official analysis by the Office for National Statistics (ONS).

The trend is contrary to government policy outlined by Harriet Harman, the leader of the house, in her equalities bill, and undermines the stance taken by Sir Gus O'Donnell, the head of the civil service, who wants more women in top jobs.

The figures are revealed in a comparison of men's and women's salary levels across Whitehall in September 2007 and March 2008 by the ONS.

They show that in most Whitehall departments men are paid more than women, and a surprising disclosure is that in some departments the situation got worse between 2007 and 2008.

Among the departments where the gender pay gap widened at the top are the Treasury, the Foreign Office, MI5 and MI6, the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra), the Department for Culture, Media and Sport, the Borders and Immigration Agency, the Crown Prosecution Service, parts of the Department for Work and Pensions, and the Land Registry. In some cases there was a double-digit difference, with men taking home up to £20,000 more than women. The largest financial gap at the top was at Ofsted, the Office for Standards in Education, where there was a difference of nearly £20,000 a year between men and women, with men taking a median salary of £92,000 and women £72,950 – a difference of 20.7%.

The Pension Service, where men took a median wage of £84,280 against £70,610 for women – a difference of 16.2% – had the next-greatest gap. The Land Registry had the third-highest – men took a median £79,910 and women £66,420, a difference of 16.9%.

At the Treasury, the Crown Prosecution Service and the Treasury Solicitor's Department there was a £10,000 difference between the median men's and women's salary at the top. At the Foreign Office and Defra the pay gap was narrower, at between £3,000 and £4,000.

Among Whitehall departments, the one ministry where women were paid more than men at the most senior levels was the Department for Innovation, Universities and Skills, a relatively new department. Here, women were paid £3,000 more than men – £78,710 compared with £75,380. No figures are available yet for another new ministry, the Department for Energy and Climate Change.

The gender pay gap was more pronounced at lower levels in a number of departments and agencies. These include the Fire Service College, the Department for Transport, the Health and Safety Executive and the Ministry of Defence – where there were big differences between men and women. These ranged from a 25% difference at the Fire Service College to 12.5% at the Ministry of Defence.

A spokesman for the Public and Commercial Services Union said yesterday: "The government has taken its eye off the ball on equality pay. The Cabinet Office used to intervene and press ministries over equal pay but in the last few years have taken a lax attitude, which may explain why it is getting worse."

The main explanation being offered in Whitehall is that women take more career breaks than men and therefore miss out on promotion and often end up at a lower pay grade when they return to work.